How to Cross-Train Your Way to a Better Beach Body

It’s safe to say that 2015 may be remembered as the year of the fitness class renaissance. Between SoulCycle, SLT, S10, and Hot 8 Yoga—to name just a few—has there ever been a time when so many body-sculpting methods were available? Not to mention the tap-of-the-finger booking convenience provided by apps like ClassPass and Beautified, which allow you to become an anywhere, anytime member of as many studios as you’d like. Needless to say, a certain approach to cocktailing your class schedule is on the rise, allowing you to get your fill of cardio, strength training, and stretching in a fresh new space every day. But the abundance and convenience of options begs the question: What is the optimal mix of workouts to condition your body into peak performance? For the answer, we reached out to Los Angeles–based trainers Brett Hoebel (who has worked with Karolina Kurkova and Doutzen Kroes) and Harley Pasternak (who is behind the bodies of Kim Kardashian West, Natalie Portman, and Rihanna) for a crash course on how to create the ultimate beach body.

According to Hoebel, his clients find their ideal shape by starting with three days of strength training classes per week. “Conditioning with bodyweight resistance—like barre classes or Pilates reformer classes such as SLT where you’re standing on the reformer—will keep your strength up.” Building muscle will only provide a better foundation for the additional two to three days of high-intensity interval training that Hoebel suggests. For this, he looks to metabolism-stimulating sessions at Barry’s Bootcamp, SoulCycle, or Flywheel. “They’re short workouts, but the calorie burn afterward is very high.” His pro tip is to schedule these intense cardio-driven classes on Mondays and Fridays, to give your body the most time to recover from being sore. Then, once a week, he suggests setting aside time to press reset. “A foam-rolling class or a low-intensity yoga class will ease inflammation. The more inflammation in the body, the harder it is to get results.”

For Pasternak, an even split of three aerobic classes per week (“Anything that gets your heart rate at least over 120 beats per minute for at least 45 minutes, like spinning or the arc trainer”) and three resistance exercises per week in the form of yoga or Pilates will do the trick. During the latter, he explains, “your heart rate isn’t necessarily very high, and you’re focusing on local fatigue—challenging specific muscle groups.”

Both trainers stress that staying consistently active outside the gym is the real key to success. “When fitness becomes a special event that you do two to three hours per week—that’s an issue,” says Pasternak, who recommends slipping on a Fitbit or downloading a pedometer to make sure you’re clocking at least 10,000 steps a day (the equivalent of roughly five miles) whether that be to and from the gym, around the farmer’s market, or between meetings in your office. Translation? Skip the elevator and take the stairs. Your bikini will thank you.